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This Habit Will Prevent You From Making Any Progress

Most people who are stuck, do this

John Mashni
6 min readApr 24, 2019

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“Valor withers without adversity.”

— Seneca

Bad things happen to everyone.

And the bad news is not uniformly distributed, either. Some people bear more than others.

Adversity strikes early and often.

Many sayings and quips try to persuade us that adversity is just a stepping stone — that there is a way to bounce back, stronger than ever before.

Of course, we can rise up after adversity. And we don’t need to look very far for examples.

Still, adversity is unavoidable. But some of us have a habit that derails us even more than the adversity when it hits. Sometimes it is not the initial pain that causes us to stumble.

Escape Is Not Defeat

“If all else fails, retreat.”

— from The 36 Stratagems

This habit reminded me of a principle used in warfare that Jocko Willink discussed on his podcast. Jocko and his partner discussed the ancient essay called the 36 Stratagems.

The final strategy of the 36 Stratagems is this:

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John Mashni
John Mashni

Written by John Mashni

I only write about what I have done: no theory. Writer, Attorney, Entrepreneur, Movie Producer, and more… the ONLY 3 ways to reinvent: goo.gl/S1Lu6x

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